"Yeah, something like that rings a bell. But I don't remember it clearly," Dragon Endbringer said. "Once, my soul was captured by the Eight Greed Kings and disciplined for a long time. They stripped away my memories. I only vaguely recall some ancient tales from the distant past that the Eight Greed Kings knew about—something involving the world's secrets..."
"You're heading into the Eight Greed Kings Desert to hunt for treasure, right?" Antilene asked.
"Partly for treasure, and partly to explore some valuable stuff," EeDechi replied, gazing at the star-studded night sky. Facing the vast, endless desert, she felt a mix of doubt and anticipation in her heart.
"I've got something here—it's what the Slane Theocracy uncovered after years of probing the Eight Greed Kings Desert. You guys will definitely need it. For adventurers like you, it's priceless," Antilene said mysteriously.
"Really?" EeDechi sounded skeptical.
Antilene tucked back a strand of hair from her forehead, her indifferent eyes flashing with a hint of pride. "Our nation borders the desert. The depth of our explorations there is beyond what you can imagine."
"What is it? Let me see," Barrett said, arms crossed.
Antilene carefully pulled a sandalwood box from her spatial ring, then gently lifted the lid and took out a scroll of parchment gleaming with golden light. With considerable pride, she said:
"Imperial Map. This is something our Slane Theocracy went through hell and high water to piece together. It marks the burial site of the Eight Greed Kings' treasure that's worth a king's ransom. For this trip into the Eight Greed Kings Desert, if you pull out all the stops to help me, I can give you the Imperial Map."
EeDechi: "..."
Barrett was a bit taken aback, but he quickly composed himself. He reached into the campfire to poke at the charcoal, casually tossing in more fuel without batting an eye. Ever since he'd bathed in the Dragon Progenitor's blood, his body had toughened up big time—he no longer feared the burn of most flames in the world.
Antilene frowned a little. "Aren't you surprised? The Imperial Map, the treasure map pointing to the Eight Greed Kings' hoard—isn't that what adventurers like you dream about?"
Barrett dug around in his spatial ring for a second, then pulled out a similarly glowing golden parchment scroll, dangling it in front of Antilene. "See? We've got one too, and I've got two more fragments of the Imperial Map. Wanna take a look?"
Antilene's eyes went wide, totally stunned. "This... what's going on here?"
Barrett let out a long sigh. "I'm starting to think about how many Imperial Maps there really are in the world."
EeDechi scooped up a handful of sand, the rough golden grains rustling as they slipped through her fingers. The riddles in this Eight Greed Kings Desert were just as countless as the sands in her palm.
EeDechi looked back on the past. According to the inscriptions on the stone tablets she'd explored before, the Eight Greed Kings had completely conquered the entire world in Imperial Year 1336—from the surface to the underground, from the skies to the oceans. Anywhere inhabited by intelligent races had fully submitted to the Eight Greed Kings.
The whole world trembled under the iron hooves of the Eight Greed Kings. Swords of iron and fire plowed across the land. All races cowered in fear, prostrating themselves on the ground, quietly licking their war wounds and bowing in submission to the Eight Greed Kings.
The Eight Greed Kings surveyed the entire continent; there were no opponents left.
But according to the inscription on the Constructs Storage Box, the Eight Greed Kings launched the Great Expedition in Imperial Year 1339. Why did the Great Expedition happen three years after the complete conquest of the world?
Since they'd already conquered the world, why did they initiate the Great Expedition? And against whom did they launch it?
After the Great Expedition, where did the Eight Greed Kings—who ruled the world—go? Why did the Eight Greed Kings Empire fall apart? Did they really perish from infighting, like the legends say?
Stars dotted the sky, the night curtain silent and lonely. Standing on the desolate desert ground, EeDechi felt her mind buzzing with doubts. Maybe all of this could be answered in the Eight Greed Kings Desert.
EeDechi had a vague hunch that this answer might give her a way to defeat Ainz Ooal Gown.
Dinner was over. Tonight, it was EeDechi's turn to stand watch and keep an eye on Mare.
After beating Mare senseless, Antilene went to sleep, fully satisfied. EeDechi gazed at the night sky alone, while Mare curled up on the side, snoring away.
"World... rune stacking... fusion... item assembly... mithril coupling..." Mare's eyes were tightly shut as he muttered broken dream talk. Even in his sleep, he seemed to be recalling something important.
EeDechi frowned slightly. Lately, Mare had been talking to himself a lot, mumbling who knows what, and now he was even murmuring in his sleep. When she had the time, EeDechi planned to interrogate him thoroughly.
...
The desert morning was crisp and refreshing, with a ray of dawn rising on the horizon. EeDechi and her group pressed on deeper into the desert.
EeDechi's main goal in entering the Eight Greed Kings Desert was to find items that could resurrect low-level characters—those small copper cans. She'd already gotten one, and if she found one or two more, she'd hit her target.
So now, whenever they came across city ruins, EeDechi would go in and rummage around for a bit. Small copper cans weren't easy to find; these powerful resurrection items were rare even in the Eight Greed Kings Desert.
Still, along the way, they'd picked up plenty of treasures from the Eight Greed Kings era.
All sorts of gold and silver vessels, pearl necklaces, diamonds the size of pigeon eggs, book covers inlaid with gold—tons of valuable stuff. EeDechi and Barrett had already collected a basketful.
Of course, they'd faced a few monster attacks on the journey, but those were just pebbles on the path to glory, no real threat at all.
After these dozens of days of travel, following the guidance of the Imperial Map, the Last Defender of the Way adventurer team had arrived at the core area of the desert. Pushing deeper would lead straight to the ancient city of the Eight Greed Kings.
Along the way, EeDechi had picked up on the signs: the farther into the Eight Greed Kings Desert they went, the more city ruins and battered wreckage popped up everywhere. Likewise, bloodthirsty monsters showed up more and more often. Ordinary adventurers wouldn't stand a chance of getting this deep.
After trudging on for a bit, a well-preserved towering ancient city loomed right in front of them.
BANG!
With a massive blast, EeDechi raised her hand and smashed through a heavy stone door. Stone chips flew everywhere as EeDechi and her crew of "ruin wreckers" strutted right into the crumbling ancient city.
Crossing the weathered old city walls, EeDechi and Barrett both got blinded by a flash of golden light.
"Hiss." Barrett craned his neck at the sky-high statue in front of him, sucking in a sharp breath.
These were eight massive statues that scraped the heavens, their bodies shining with brilliant gold, all forged from pure gold. The eight figures were gigantic, each striking a different pose, facing eight directions, carved exactly as the likenesses of the Eight Greed Kings.
And beneath the Eight Greed Kings statues, the base they trod upon was forged from the bones of kings from every race!
These once unbeatable kings, after getting wiped out by the Eight Greed Kings, were tossed into molten gold, fished out, etched with eternal rune arrays, and built together into stepping stones for the Eight Greed Kings statues.
These enormous golden statues stood tall on the earth. Folks strolling at their feet suddenly felt as tiny as ants.
Bolstered by magic, the Eight Greed Kings' statues hadn't suffered a scratch. Their fierce dominance in conquering the continent and ruling the world cut through five hundred years of whipping winds and sand, still stunning anyone who passed by.
"This is the Dragon Emperor's remains," Dragon Endbringer said, stepping out from behind EeDechi with a soft sigh.
He stroked a majestic ancient dragon skull with both hands, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes.
The ancient Dragon Emperor's bones were coated in gold from head to toe, still radiating a mighty dragon presence. And right on top of its bones, one of the Eight Greed Kings' emperor statues had his war boot planted squarely on the Dragon Emperor's head.